Through rituals of prayer, a monk cultivates a quietly radical concept of freedom

For Father Giles, who has lived as a Benedictine monk at Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland for nearly half a century, freedom is a concept defined by love and shaped by prayer. As he explains in this short documentary, through his practice of silent prayer, he has come to see freedom as the ability to detach from desires to possess and control that might otherwise dominate us – a perspective that contrasts sharply with the selfish view that freedom means being able to do whatever one wants. For Father Giles, this detachment is not about loss; rather, it clears the way for deeper, more fulfilling experiences. Pairing his words with a series of simple-yet-elegant shots of his life in the monastery, the film forms a hushed-yet-powerful contemplation of what it truly means to be free.